Paging Portia!!! Savannah Cats!

[CrookedRock]

Portia! I was just inspired to search for posts regarding Savannah Cats by Aloros'' sad story about her sick cat. I''m sure as an exotic cat lover you can feel her pain!

I wanted to see how everything is going with your lil adorable F2... We have a deposit on a F2 kitten that we will be picking up on October 27th. He''s actually my avatar, I just can''t seem to get it sized right... Not a total computer whiz...LOL!

Were you able to leash train him? I know it''s not an easy task, but some have figured out the secret trick... If you know it please fill me in! I was also wondering how all the animals are getting along? Are they best friends yet?

Let me know what I am about to get into here! I''d love a heads up!

 

[portia]

Hi CrookedRock,

Funny that you are asking about Savannah cats and in particular our F2 because I was just going to post an update on Zoe over the weekend but ran out of time. I didn''t see the thread about Aloros'' cat until I saw your post. I just read the thread. That is so sad... and your story about Kain brings tears to my eyes. I can''t imagine losing one of my babies! I do think about it since accidents and illness can happen and it would tear my heart out.
I''ve gone through my worries with Zoe. She eats pretty much any small object that''s laying around on the floor or countertop. She''ll eat carpet fuzzies, small pebbles, just whatever... and one night after we had her for only about a month she ate a leaf off of a fake tree I had. I was so worried because of the size of the leaf and it had a plastic spine on the back. It all came out all right in the end. haha But she had me worried. Just the other week we had packets of salt and pepper laying on the countertop from some carryout we ordered. I saw her with a white packet in her mouth just chewing on it. I immediately got up and yelled ''No'' and tried to get it out of her mouth but it was too late... she ate a packet of salt! She was fine, but I always worry about losing her to something she eats.

Awww... the kitty in your avatar is sooooo cute! You will adore your F2! Wow... so much to say about this breed. Our Zoe has such an adorable, amazing personality. She''s very social and not afraid of anything (including vacuum cleaners which sends our other cats scrambling and hiding under the bed). She loves to play and just hang out with us. She is always around, ''talking'' to us (she makes the strangest noises), she''s very smart and likes to play fetch.

She sleeps with us every night. Sometimes I''ll play with her a bit on the bed while waiting for DH to come to bed. The minute he gets in bed and turns of the light she plops down in the same spot she always sleeps in - tucked behind DH''s knees. Every morning we wake up to head butts, kisses on the face, kneading paws and her very strange cooing and whining sounds. She''s too funny... sometimes she''ll try to wake me up and I''ll ignore her. So she''ll just sit there and stare at me. I''ll wait a few minutes and then slowly open one eye and she sees this and immediately makes her weird noise, wags her tail and sticks her head under my hand so I''ll pet her. It just cracks me up.

She has very good litter box habits - absolutely no problems there. The only slight problem we have with her is that she''s not bonded with the other two cats. She gets along ok with the male bengal, however our female bengal (Haley) doesn''t like Zoe at all. I''m mean, she kind of tolerates her but Zoe just plays too rough with her so when Zoe gets near her she''ll growl and hiss - not every time, but enough where it like ''Okay, enough already!''.

Zoe just turned 1 this month. She''s 11.5 lbs and she stands about as tall as our male Bengal. She''s quite the jumper and if we bring a new toy home she''ll just start growing like crazy. DH recently brought home a dog toy for her (it''s called Loofa Dog). I thought it was going to be a waste of money, but it turns out that it''s her favorite toy! Unfortunately, Loofa Dog met his fate when we woke up one morning to find his head ripped off. Zoe was so excited when we brought home another for her!

Feeding the three cats is a little tricky. We have to feed Zoe in a separate room because she''ll eat a few bites of her food and then run over to the other cats food and start eating there''s as well. She''s definitely the alpha cat! I think part of it is that she''s so young. Haley was like this too when she was a kitten. I''m sure she''ll mellow out as she gets older.

As far as leash training goes... I tried a couple of times with her but I haven''t kept at it. I need to look for a harness that fits properly because the ones we have don''t fit comfortably for her body type. The few times I put her on she was pretty good about it, but she''d just stand up on her hind legs and just flop over. It was really funny!

You must be so excited to pick up your little Savannah! How old is he/she? Can''t wait to hear how the first week goes for you and to see photos. Do you have any other photos to post? Would love to see your little cutie!

 

[portia]

Here are a few pics of Zoe today. As you can see in this photo, it really hard to train a cat to not get on the countertop!

 

[portia]

Extreme closeup!

 

[portia]

Zoe and her Loofa Dog toy

 

[Cind11]

Portia,

I just have to say I love your cat. She is so exotic looking. My DH and I like to go to cat shows but I''ve never seen a Savannah. We have an Oriental Shorthair whose coloring is a silver spotted tabby and he''s pretty exotic looking too. Zoe''s antics in the morning sound too funny!

 

[CrookedRock]

Portia!Thanks so much for responding!

Zoe is hysterical!I really hope ours is that entertaining!

I''m so glad to hear that Zoe is so fearless... We also have a Chocolate Lab named Jackson, and we''re worried about the two of them being able to happily coexist! Right now we are taking care of my Mom''s Bengal, and the two of them despise one another! Hootie (Mom''s Bengal) is wierd though.. Not very friendly with anyone, so I''m not shocked by his resistance to be friendly with Jackson...

So... Our Savannah, who we have named Mason, was born on August 13th, so he''s just over a month old. So cute!!! This past weekend we were susposed to go meet him and we, unfortunately we had to cancel b/c my younger brother ended up in the hospital. I know it sounds crazy that we bought him without having met him, but we did meet his Mom and Dad. The breeder is on the other side of Florida about 2+ hours away. Towards the beginning of August we actually went over there to meet a Savannah F3 that the breeder had told me about. Whle we were there we met a gorgeous F1 that was about to have kittens any day, and we knew we wanted one! The breeder was really sweet and even snuck us up the waiting list so we wouldn''t have to wait til the next litter. So thats how we got Mason. We will be picking him up on October 27th, and we can''t wait!
I''ll post his pics tonight... Right now I gotta run!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

What do the F1, F2, and F3 classifications mean?

 

[portia]

Date: 9/26/2007 12:09:32 AM
Author: Cind11
Portia,

I just have to say I love your cat. She is so exotic looking. My DH and I like to go to cat shows but I''ve never seen a Savannah. We have an Oriental Shorthair whose coloring is a silver spotted tabby and he''s pretty exotic looking too. Zoe''s antics in the morning sound too funny!

Thanks Cind11! I guess she does look pretty exotic. I see her all the time so I don''t notice it as much now.

My DH and I went to a cat show once. It was an interesting experience since we''d never seen one before. They didn''t have Savannahs but we saw some beautiful Bengals, Abssynians, Siamese and Orientals. It was fun to see all the different breeds! I''ve seen the silver spotted tabby orientals and they are beautiful looking!

What is the cat in your avatar? Is that an oriental as well? He looks white so I''m assuming that''s a different cat than your spotted? What a cute face!

 

[portia]

Date: 9/26/2007 1:15:22 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
What do the F1, F2, and F3 classifications mean?

HudsonHawk,
The F1, F2, etc. is their generation level. The ''F'' actually stands for ''Filial'' which means ''of or relating to a generation''. An F1 Savannah is produced by breeding a Serval with a domestic cat. In our case it was a Serval bred with a Bengal. That produced a litter of F1''s (50% Serval). The first few generations of male Savannahs are born sterile so they aren''t used in the breeding program until they are F4 or F5. An F1 female is bred with a domestic cat (again, in our case a Bengal) which produces a litter of F2 kittens (like our Zoe and CrookedRock''s soon to be new kitten) which are 25% Serval. This goes on to produce F3, F4, etc. which dilutes the serval (or wild) blood in them, but they keep that exotic look. Hope that makes sense.

 

[CrookedRock]

Ok... Here are the pics... The breeder has sent all these to me. This is a pic of the litter when they are only a few days old!

 

[CrookedRock]

More Kittens...

 

[CrookedRock]

This was before his ears popped up...

 

[CrookedRock]

Awww... I already love him!

 

[CrookedRock]

This is the whole litter. They have all been sold and named. Lea is actually staying with the breeder for her program. She was so excited to get a girl with a black nose! They are all adorable, but I love ours!!

 

[CrookedRock]

SanDiegoLady... thanx so much! Yours is so cute too! Do you have any pics posted somewhere? I''m such a sucker for cats!

 

[CrookedRock]

In fairness to my Chocolate Lab Jackson, I have to post his adorable pic too. We took this while he was laying in the stream behind our vacation house in NC.

 

[portia]

OMG!! Look at those big adorable ears! He is such a cutie! I''ll bet you can''t wait to pick him up and take him home. Can''t wait to hear all your stories of him discovering his new surroundings.

Oh, I read something on the website where we got our cat that Savannahs tend to get along easier with dogs than cats. So hopefully that holds true and Mason and Jackson will be best friends!

 

[Cind11]

Date: 9/26/2007 2:31:16 PM
Author: portia

Date: 9/26/2007 12:09:32 AM
Author: Cind11
Portia,

I just have to say I love your cat. She is so exotic looking. My DH and I like to go to cat shows but I''ve never seen a Savannah. We have an Oriental Shorthair whose coloring is a silver spotted tabby and he''s pretty exotic looking too. Zoe''s antics in the morning sound too funny!

Thanks Cind11! I guess she does look pretty exotic. I see her all the time so I don''t notice it as much now.

My DH and I went to a cat show once. It was an interesting experience since we''d never seen one before. They didn''t have Savannahs but we saw some beautiful Bengals, Abssynians, Siamese and Orientals. It was fun to see all the different breeds! I''ve seen the silver spotted tabby orientals and they are beautiful looking!

What is the cat in your avatar? Is that an oriental as well? He looks white so I''m assuming that''s a different cat than your spotted? What a cute face!

Portia,
The cat in my avatar is Oliver who is a Siamese/Javanese variant. (or deviant as my DH says-lol) The picture was taken when Oliver was a kitten. He''s 4 yrs. old now. His coloring is a seal lynx point so he has some stripes on his legs and tail and some spots on his belly. Oliver is such a bully, he is always going after one of the three other cats. But he''s scared of everyone who comes over.

CrookedRock, your soon to be addition is precious. What fun you''re going to have!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

OMG, I want to sit on the floor in the middle of that group and snuggle every single one of them! I want another fur baby!!!

FI says no though. We have two already and a dog who doesn''t get along with them.

 

[CrookedRock]

I know! His ears are unbelievable! The breeder says he has the biggest ones in the litter! My BF and I joke that he were a child we''d be looking into some sort of tuck! LOL!
Luckily, that''s part of the breed! The Bigger the Better!

I''ll post more as I get them! Thanksagain for all the info!

P.S. I noticed you mentioned Telluride in a post a while back.. You don''t live there do you? Bf and I have rented a lil house in Telluride for the past 3 years, and we just LOVE IT!

 

[portia]

CrookedRock,

I was just looking at the pictures again to show my DH and I think he''s going to be so beautiful. He''s in his fuzzy stage right now, but you can clearly see his spots. I think he going to have gorgeous markings when he gets bigger. Yes, and bigger he''ll get! I forgot how big the males can get. Are you prepared for a 38lb cat?! I guess that''s how big they can get. He may just end up being the alpha animal in the house! hehe

And mama F1 is stunning. That''s how Zoe''s mom looked... light coat with dark black spots. Zoe didn''t quite turn out like that as her coat is ticked and she had more brown freckles than spots but we love her just the same! She''s my sweetie!

Ahhhh... Telluride... one of my favorite places! My parents have a house out there. It''s been their home away from home for the past 18 yrs (and mine, too). I''ve been going out there for all of those 18 yrs. and I still feel like I leave a part of me behind when I leave there. I would love to live there, but winters are long and not much work there unless you want to be a ski lift operator, bartender/waiter or realtor/construction.

Wow... what a small world! Have you been renting in town or in mountain village? Do you go out for ski season or summer? Would love to hear your favorite places and activities out there!

 

[poptart]

Oh my GOODNESS!! They are just adorable! I want a kitty cat SO BADLY. Curse DH''s terrible allergies... I swear... I MUST find a way to rectify this problem!

*M*

 

[Aloros]

What an adorable baby! You’re going to have a ton of fun with him. I swear too, they get prettier as they get older – seems impossible I know!

Amazu’s an F3 silver savannah, from two savannah parents. Before he got sick, he was such a handful! Believe me when I say nothing is safe. Like portia’s kitty, he eats EVERYTHING. Anything remotely resembling food and he will chew through the package and get to it. You sort of have to modify the way you do things a bit. I absolutely could not leave food on the counter.

My friend came over once after having dinner with her boyfriend. She brought leftovers. He grabbed the entire Styrofoam package in his mouth and ran away with it! And when he gets something in his mouth he’s not supposed to have, you’ve got to pry it away from him.

He learned how to open cupboards fairly quickly, so I got child locks for those. Before I did, he got into a bag of flour and had a bundle of fun, the little rascal! It’s tough to begrudge him his fun, with what a cute face he has and how much he enjoys himself. He learned how to open zippers later too.

You’ll probably go through a lot of toilet paper if you don’t keep your bathroom door shut. Amazu LOVES toilet paper. He especially liked unrolling it, chewing it up, and spreading it down my hallway.

On the other hand, he’s a very quick learner. I taught him to sit when he wants food or a treat. He picked it up in about 5-10 minutes. It was very helpful for keeping him from stealing things off my plate. Training to keep him off the counter though? Hah! I sort of gave up after a while.

He is the sweetest, most affectionate animal I have ever met. Every time I came home from work, he’d rush to the window, practically quivering with excitement. He purrs just when I talk to him, and follows me around my apartment. He gives head butts freely. When he’s really happy, he does this cool serval thing where his tail and a ridge down his back poof up. When I go to sleep he likes to be right in the crook of my arm. He slept curled up next to my ear the first night I brought him home.

And he plays like crazy. Personality-wise, he’s like a mix of a cat and a dog. And all the cat stuff he does with bounds more enthusiasm than your regular domestic cat.

He’s so bold. He’s not afraid of dogs, vacuum cleaners, water, or loud crowds of people (he was always a hit at parties). He’s so funny too, even when he’s doing what he’s not supposed to be doing.

Good luck with your Mason! Savannahs are a handful, but I really do believe they are worth it, and then some!

 

[Aloros]

Hahahaha, here''s a picture of him and his ears the first night I brought him home:

 

[CrookedRock]

Aloros! Thanx so much for sharing your stories. He''s so cute! How can you not fall in love with a cat that has ears that big? I just love em!
I am expecting a handful! The breeder emailed me last night to tell me that I have the most playful and energetic one of the bunch! So... we are preparing! Taking anyhting valuable or breakable off shelves... moving things in the pantry, etc... We''re very excited.
I am even more excited to hear that you were able to trai yours. I am definitely going to hop on that. I had trained my last Bengal to use the Potty!! Hopefully this one will put it up quicker than he did, because it took a loooonnngg time. I will keep you guys posted n how it all goes. Thanx again for sharing your knowledge! How is your little cutie doing?

 

[Lynn B]

OH. MY. WORD!!!

I LOVE Savannahs (although I have never seen one in person)... and Mason is PRECIOUS! Those ears are just so impossibly adorable!!! We are going to a cat show in November and I hope hope hope I get to see a Savannah there!

 

[CrookedRock]

Portia.... Sorry it took me so long to get back here! About Telluride.... We have always stayed in town on West Pacific. There is something about those cute little Victorian style houses that we love! We have only ever gone out during ski season, but have been wanting to get out there during the summer... Where do you guys stay?